Donald Trump’s daily double – Poynter.org

Let’s see, it was “Fox & Friends” and CNN this morning as he called in for his daily dose of free media promotion (I wonder if he ever replicates Lyndon Johnson by conducting business on the john, albeit with his cell phone).

On Fox he copped to making unkind remarks about Carly Fiorina in a Rolling Stone profile (“Look at that face!”) but claimed he alluded to her “persona,” not her actual visage. He also claimed the profile’s reporter called to tell him that “(publisher) Jann Wenner got involved and screwed my story.” But Trump loved the Rolling Stone photos of himself. “About the best I’ve ever had.”

The Post blocks the ad blockers

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes (“Who guards the guards?”) is a phrase found in the work of the Roman poet Juvenal. If he were living today, he’d surely wonder, “Who blocks the blockers?” An answer is found at The Washington Post as it “has begun intermittently redirecting desktop users to a subscription page if they are using the popular AdBlock software, some readers have reported.” (BuzzFeed) “Without income via subscriptions or advertising, we are unable to deliver the journalism that people coming to our site expect from us,” says a spokesperson. ” We are currently running a test using a few different approaches to see what moves these readers to either enable ads on The Washington Post, or subscribe.”

Murdoch takes hold of National Geographic

“In an effort to stave off further decline, the magazine was effectively sold by its nonprofit parent organization to a for-profit venture whose principal shareholder is one of Rupert Murdoch’s global media companies.” So National Geographic gets a tidy $725 million and gives its “troubled magazine and its book, map and other media assets to a partnership headed by 21st Century Fox.” Boy, the synergies with Fox News Channel alone should be nifty. Envision “Bill O’Reilly’s Outback Odyssey,” “Megyn Kelly’s Journey to the Galápagos Islands” and a 55-page glossy spread on “Global Warming and Poaching African Ivory: The Great Liberal Conspiracies.” (The Washington Post)

Reporter canned after confrontation with U.S. senator

A Baton Rouge, Louisiana TV reporter claims that he was shown the exit after a parking lot confrontation with Sen. David Vitter, a Republican running for governor, that prompted the campaign to threaten to pull ads. The reporter, 23 and on the job for all of three weeks, was moved to ask Vitter about his 2007 admission that he had committed a “very serious sin” in connection with a prostitution ring. The campaign and the station boss said nobody broached the yanking of ads. (The Advocate)

CNN prepares to make, cover its own news

The network will disclose Thursday who meets its criteria to be in the big boys-big girls Republican debate next week. Fox, you remember, had a similar no-win situation in deciding which 10 of the sprawling field would be on primetime, which six would be the warm-up act. Meanwhile, Trump wants CNN to donate all the revenues to vets as he tells the network that he’s their ratings meal card. (Poynter) It’s all about him.

Deflategate and Spygate

An investigation of two scandals involving the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots suggests that the first, involving covert videotaping of opponents, was more systematic than previously known and that the famous coach is a liar. It also makes a case that the NFL’s recent tough treatment (overturned by a federal judge) of the team for fiddling with footballs was a far cry from its intentionally shallow probe of the much more extensive videotaping mess. It’s a good piece, though longer than an NFL game and still leaves unclear how the initial cheating (spanning years) gave them such a competitive advantage and if other teams try similar hanky-panky. (ESPN The Magazine) At minimum, one gags that the owners pay the commissioner more than twice ($44 million last year) what Deflategate protagonist Tom Brady justifiably earns for superior performance.

Hungarian stew

“A female Hungarian videojournalist has been fired from her far-right news organization after shocking footage emerged of her kicking and tripping migrants, including children, fleeing police in southern Hungary.” Yup. She was quickly canned by her right-wing Internet-based TV news station, itself the favorite of an anti-Semitic, anti-immigration political party. (New York Daily News)

CNBC polishes Apple

I tuned into its rather intense coverage of Apple product rollouts. “You can see us talking about Apple TV ON Apple TV!” declared a clearly excited show host. Lucky us. He then informed his audience that he is a big and very happy user of Apple TV. Hey, who needs Consumer Reports? Meanwhile, the company disclosed an app platform that might be of utility to news media outlets. (NiemanLab)

Context for the migrant-refugee crisis

“While the world’s attention is fixed on the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees swarming into Europe, a potentially far more profound crisis is unfolding in the countries of the Middle East that have borne the brunt of the world’s failure to resolve the Syrian war,” writes foreign correspondent Liz Sly. Those reaching Europe are a sliver of the 4 million Syrian refugees scattered elsewhere. The humanitarian effort is its own depressing commentary, beset by declining public interest and donations. (The Washington Post)

Weather Channel tumult continues

While the Weather Channel explores selling itself to somebody, it is “canceling Sam Champion’s morning newscast, replacing reality shows with more weather coverage, cutting TV production costs and laying off some staffers in a sweeping adjustment to changes in the cable business.” There’s been lots of turmoil there of late. And for those, like me, who’ve never even seen Sam Champion’s morning newscast, you may well be frozen by inaction even if this is a programming injustice. (CNN Money)

Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare

Today’s front page of the day comes from The Dominion Post in Wellington, New Zealand. On Thursday, the Post turned its front into a keeper as it cheered on the national team, which is headed for the Rugby World Cup. (Courtesy the Newseum)

Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin

Erika Allen is now senior editor at Vice Magazine. Previously, she was an editor for Times Insider. (Email) | Tom Shoop will be interim newsroom manager at National Journal. He is editor in chief for Government Executive Media Group. (Poynter) | Adam Weinstein is now senior editor of digital investigations at Fusion. Previously, he was a senior writer for Gawker.com. (POLITICO) | Dan Berman has been named enterprise editor at CNN Politics Digital. He is assistant managing editor of National Journal. (Email) | Job of the day: The MIT Technology Review is looking for a senior editor for editorial innovations. Get your resumes in! (MIT Technology Review) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.